Students question the Victoria ID system
Problems with Victoria’s Student ID cards have come to light after recent cases of students being asked to leave university property by campus security.
VUWSA reported on their website recently that students had been asked to leave computer labs when they could not produce a valid ID. Students were advised to always carry their student ID card.
Campus Services have increased surveillance this year after an increase in incidents on campus.
As per the Victoria ID system, students must revalidate their identification cards every year that they continue studying.
The revalidation involves getting an expiration sticker from the faculty under which you study, lasting up until March of the following year. This has resulted in problems for various students who are unaware that they need to renew their card, or where to do it.
“I’ve had the same card since first year,” says third-year Monique Davies.
“And I still haven’t got around to renewing it because I’m not sure where to go and don’t really need it done.”
However, this may not be the case. Many students are unaware that under section 4.3.2 of Victoria University’s Security Management Guidelines, anyone who cannot produce a valid ID card can be asked to leave the premises.
Enrolment Manager Juliette Toma told Salient that the university would attempt to increase awareness of the issue.
“We do try and ensure all students are informed they must update their cards each academic year with an update sticker, but we can ensure we have signage up in future to reinforce this message.”
The fee for a replacement card at Victoria is $20, which proves another issue for some students.
“My card hasn’t been swiping properly since first year, but I’m not going to pay $20 to get a new one,” says Kate Everitt.
“It seems unreasonable that other universities provide an updated ID card for free each year whereas we have to make ours last through our whole time at university.”
The University of Auckland provides students with an ID card valid for six years after enrolment, as well as free replacement cards if it begins to malfunction or is stolen.
There is a $10 fee for lost or wilfully damaged ID cards.
Otago University students receive a new ID every year of their study, free of charge.
Malfunctioning cards are also replaced at no cost, which many students appreciate.
“It’s great that we get them for free,” says Abby Calder, a third-year Pharmacy student at Otago.
“It’s just one less cost for us students and a hassle-free way to make sure that everyone on campus is meant to be there.”
Toma said that unlike other universities, the first ID card provided by Victoria University was not paid for by students at all, either directly or through fees to the university. Only the cost for replacement cards was charged to students.
“The cards are expensive to replace given their functionality, and the $20 charge only covers the cost of producing it.”
Having an up-to-date student ID card is a necessity in order to receive student discounts at many Wellington companies, such as Reading Cinemas, Fusion clothing and the Cable Car.
“It is our policy that to get a student fare here, you need to have an unexpired student ID,” says Cable Car Manager Matthew Hardy.
“A lot of people are good about it now but we do still get quite a few students trying to get the fare without ID.”
Hardy explains that the ID is necessary as they changed the discount to only New Zealand students, so that prices would not have to go up.
“We started doing it because we reduced it down to New Zealand students only instead of having to increase the price. It’s important that students realise we need to see their ID.”